Building joist and beam coupling



.Decn 13, 1927. 1,652,612

E. S. DANIELS BUIxLDING JOIST AND BEAM GQUPLING Fuga neo, 15;- 1924 s sheets-sheet 1 Dec. 13, 1927.

E. s. DANIELS BUILDING JOIST AND BEAM COUPLING med nec. 15. 1924 3` SheetsSheet 2 m n W Dec. 13,1927. Y 1,652,612 E. s. DANll-:Ls

BUILDING JOIST AND BEA COUPLING Filed Deo. 15. 1924 'sheets-sheet :s`

'Er/zest ,Stuartfm 3&1,

11M @1km nur Patented Dec.13, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1,652,612 PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST STUART DANIELS, 0F WASHINGTON, DISTRICT 0F COLUIBIA.

BUILDING J OIST AN D BEAM GOUPLIN G.

. .Application led December 15, 1924. Serial No. 755,961.

This invention relates to building construction and more particularly to coupling or joinering means for wall-posts, beams, joists and other parts of the elementary or skeleton structure of a house, garage, shed or the like.

The principal object is to provide simple and eiiicient means of the character referred to, by which the structural timbers of parts of a building may be expediently and economically assembled and fixed rigidly in place without necessity for mortising or the use of nails, thus facilitating the work of 'construction with great saving in time, labor and material, especially in the erection of ready-made or ready-cut buildings or structures, to which the invention is par- Iticularlyapplicable.

Practicability and inexpensiveness in cost of manufacture are further desiderata which have been borne'in mind in the production 'of my improved structure joinering or coupling means.

The invention will be first hereinafter Amore particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as a part of this specification and then pointed out in the claims at the end of the description.

In said drawings, Fi spective view of an incomplete building erected in accordance with my invention, illustrating the manner in which sheathing and frame structural parts are assembled and joined together in place. y

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the joiner or coupling elements embodying this invention, the associated uniting parts of a frame structure being shown fragmentarily.

Fig. 3 is a partial rspective view of vertical and superpose horizontal parts of a frame structure adapted to be joined or secured together by my improved coupling means.

Fig. 4 is a detached perspective view of a sli htly modified form of coupling element. Fig. 5 is a perspective view illustrating the novel manner in which composite panels or sections of sheathing are secured in place tween parallel wall posts, the latter being shown fragmentarily.

, The remaining figures are merely illustrative of various uses to which my impoved joiner or coupling elements ma put either with or without slight modifiycation in assembling and securing the structural g. 1 is a partial per parts o f a building frame or scaffoldJ t0- gether 1n their different relations with respect to each other; Fig. 6 being a perspective fragmentary view of meeting beams supportingly secure-d at an angle to each other forming a corner; Fig. 7 a fragmentary perspective view of uniting extended sections of a horizontal beam; Fig. 8 a frage mentary perspective view of uniting tiebeam and strut, showing a desirable modification for such purpose in the form of one of the coupling members; Fig. 9 a fragmentary perspective view of uniting mortised sections of a vertical joist or truss; and Fig. 10 a fragmentary perspective view of uniting mortised sections of an inclined brace or strut member.

Referring to the drawings in which like reference numerals are used to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, 11, 12, 13 and the usual sill, upright wall-posts, tie-beam .and head-beams of a building or structure,

while 15, 16, 17 and 18 respectively designate the king-post, ridge-beam, rafters and inclined braces or struts thereof.

Said beams, or frame structural parts of the building with the exception of the rafters, are unitingly assembled and rigidly secured in their respective places as illustrated in Fig. l, by means of my improved joiner or coupling elements hereinafter described, said rafters as shown, being preferably supported in lace by means of angular rackets 19 andp 20, of the character shown and described in my copending application Serial Number 754,303 filed December 6, 1924, for improvements i joist and rafter suspension brackets.

The joiner or coupling elements embodying this invention comprise metallic plate members 21 and 22 adapted to complementary interlocking engagement with each other, the first named plate being cast with intersecting ribs or formed substantially 1n the shape of a cross as shown, the second named plate being correspondingly recessed or grooved to a depth conforming therewith, so as to accommodate or complementarily receive the former as ilustrated clearly in Figs. 2 and 3. Registering transverse holes 21l and 22 are provided respectively in' the ends of the plates 21 and 22, through which ordinary Cotter-keys or pms are passed to interengagingly secure the two plates together.v

14 respectively denote' in Fig Said interlocking lplate members are secured' in opposition to each other upon junctural ends or surfaces of the several beams or structural parts of a building, by ordinary flat-headed screws extended through apertures provided therein for such purpose as shown, suchplates in predetermined engagin or interlocking relation to each other, being thus secured on the ends and at proper points along the surfaces of the respective frame members of a structure, atvwhich they are predesigned to be fixed or united with one another, thereby permitting the several parts of the structure to be easily, quickly and rigidly assembled together.

Referring to Fig. 4 in which a slight modication inform of the plate 21 is illustrated, the cross-bar extremities thereof, may if desired, be recessed as at 21h, to correspond or register with longitudinall grooves provided in the wall-posts 12 for a purpose hereinafter defined.

Referring now to Fig. 5, illustrating the novel method by which sheathing material may be conveniently and expediently applied, longitudinal grooves 12 are for such purpose provided in opposite sides of the upright wall-posts 12 which thus form parallel guide-ways accommodating the oppositely extended splines or tongues of sheathing panels 23, the latter being formed in composite sections of the character shown and described in a joint patent to myself and Harold P. Schuck, for improvements 1n arquet floori and wall paneling, No. 1,510,924 dated ctober 7, 1924, having fixed end splines 23a and loose assembly splines 23h and 23 .respectively for the grooved ends and sides thereof, said panels being thus interlockingly fitted in place by sealing tongue and groove connections one upon the other between adjacent wall-posts, as shown Re erring to Fig. 8 in which an inclined brace is shown connectinwith a horizontal beam, the plate 22 may e formed or provided with an extremital upright ange or heel portion 22" against which the inclined brace may press and relieve the'angular pressure or strain otherwise imposed upon the plate members. A

When mortised sections of vertical or inclined posts or trusses are interlockingly joined together as illustrated in Fi `s. 9 and 10, a girding or encircling safetyrace'24 may be advantageously em loyed as shown, to reinforce the union there etween.

It is throught that the novelty and utility of my improved joiner or coupling'means will .be obvious from the foregoing descrip'- tion 'and the distinctive features and economic advanta es incident to the simple mode of buil ing construction setdforth herein, will be readily appreciated.

Since the coupling plate elements maybe of the respective frame applied to various uses, and modifications other than those herein set forth, may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, I do not desire to be limited by the appended claims to the specific form, construction and arrangement hereinbefore illustrated and described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:y

l. In combination with the structural frame members of a building, means for assembling and joining said members together at their points of juncture with each other, said means comprising solid interlocking complementary tongue vand groove plate elements secured in opposition to each other upon and between meeting surfaces or ends parts.

2. In combination with the structural frame members ofy a building, means for coupling said members. together at desired points, said means comprising complementary interlocking crossed tongue and groove plate elements interposed and secured in opposition to each other between the ends or surfaces of the respective frame members at their points of juncture with each other.

3. Means for assembling and joining the structural frame members of a building together, said means comprisin tarily tongued and grooved so id flat plates secured in opposed interengaging relation to 4each other upon and between the junctural ends or surfaces of the respective frame members.

4. Means for joining and securing the frame structural parts of a building together, said means comprising rcomplementary plate elements securable 1n o posed relation upon junctural surfaces of e respective frame parts and adapted to interlocking engagement with each other, one of sai plates being formed with a tongue substantially in the shaje of a crossand the other of saidplates eing, correspondingly recessed so as to receive and retain the former.

5. Means for joining and securing the structural frame parts of a building together, said means comprising complementary plate elements securable in opposed relation upon junctural ends or surfaces of said parts and adapted to interlocking engagement with each other, one of said plates being formed with a tongue substantially inthe shape of a cross, the other of said plates being correspondingly recessed to receive the former and means for locking said plates together. 1

6. In combination with a building, means for joining and securing' the structural frame members thereof together in proper supporting relation each to the other, said means comprising complementary interlock complemeiiing tongue and groove plate elements selocking plate cross-shaped tongue and groove 10 elements securable in opposition to each other upon and between the ends or surfaces of the respective members at their points of juncture or unity with each other and means for inseparably locking said plate elements 16 together.

In testimony whereof I 4alx mi si ature. ERNEST STUART D N ELS. 

